1968 C-20 with 67,000 OG Miles Build Log/ Thread

[Husker]

You know you hooked when you start taking pics from an upstairs window. Jus sayin.. Nice truck
Ron

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by webberjames95

is that what wouldve come on this truck? those wider steelies? Also does that make my truck a camper? Im still not sure what the deal is with campers as the spec are all over the place. I will post my build sheet so we can all examine it

The Custom Camper option was basically a heavy duty suspension package, these trucks came with the square Custom Camper emblem on fender in place of the bowtie 20 emblem ( gold truck below is a C.C.). There were plenty of wheel options in '68, build sheet will list your original wheel. Here are '68 C 20's with there original wheels and hubcaps. Blue truck has 16" 2piece, Red has17.5" 1 piece, Gold has 16.5" 1 piece. The 16.5" was available in different widths, depending on tire size. Important thing to remember, all '68 8 lug pickup wheels have "clips" for hubcap retention, if they have bumps, they are newer wheels.

[Orange67]

Originally Posted by factorystock

The Custom Camper option was basically a heavy duty suspension package, these trucks came with the square Custom Camper emblem on fender in place of the bowtie 20 emblem ( gold truck below is a C.C.). There were plenty of wheel options in '68, build sheet will list your original wheel. Here are '68 C 20's with there original wheels and hubcaps. Blue truck has 16" 2piece, Red has17.5" 1 piece, Gold has 16.5" 1 piece. The 16.5" was available in different widths, depending on tire size. Important thing to remember, all '68 8 lug pickup wheels have "clips" for hubcap retention, if they have bumps, they are newer wheels.

Nice examples! That 50th is also a Longhorn! Very cool!

Webberjames95, your truck is amazing. Curious, does it have coils or leads in the rear?

[webberjames95]

damn, calling it a night for now but spent the evening doing a little engine detailing since i had to replace the manifolds as they were cracked...

Just for comparisons sake here is the engine at the start, minus the valve covers and filter:

68 c20 by James Webber, on Flickr

And here are some progress shots from tonight, i spent yesterday painting the wheel wells and also spent some time spraying some black onto the frame, but still needs more love and time on the frame:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

New manifolds:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Painting the manifolds also the heat shields for the plug wires:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Cracked ya think?

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

While I had them off I might as well spray a little orange on the block right?

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr
Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Finished for now, still need to bolt up the drivers side manifold to the exhaust, tricky little area to do in the dark, Ill get some better pictures once I get the alternator bracket reinstalled

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

[cleanfreak]

You may want to look up a member 65standard , he had a press made up to put the marker light hole into the rear bedsides , should also work on that 67 front fender , would make a welcome upgrade / repair to your very nice truck.

[webberjames95]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YojPum6fjt8

First time the gf has invested energy into this thing with me. Worth noting. Video link above

[webberjames95]

Motor buttoned up. Had to take it to the shop to fix one of my exhaust leaks on the y pipe cuz I didn't feel like doing it after awhile messing with it. 50$ later it's all right again. Motor picture attached
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[68panelman]

Looking good

[webberjames95]

This thing is original and nice but it still is a truck so its been putting in some work.

Here it is outside what is essentially my second home: lol

[IMG]Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr[/IMG]

Really need to get this pick up ready for a trailer so I worked on the wiring some today:

Rats nest of wires that the PO had created for what I assume was a camper (would explain the condition of the bed):

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

cut it all off:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Spent some of the day working with other electrical issues, drivers side taillight wont come on, it works when i break, when i turnsignal and when hazards are on but no running lights???? any one know whats going on there? you can see the light not on in the picture below fixed the drivers side front turn signal though, wired up the cigarette lighter, and also worked on the license plate wiring and bulb/ housing assembly with some help:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Also new bed liner to protect, these are industrial kitchen mats but i cut them to fit, dont have pic of them cut at the moment but you get an idea:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

And a little snow picture just for fun:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

I have a lot of detail work to do on this thing and Ill pull out my good camera for those pics, usually I start working on stuff and just have my phone camera to take pics

Thats all for now

[72 tigger]

Nice progress!

[webberjames95]

Detailing the cock pit here are some before and afters:

DSC_9087 by James Webber, on Flickr

DSC_9094 by James Webber, on Flickr

DSC_9090 by James Webber, on Flickr

DSC_9095 by James Webber, on Flickr

Era correct suicide knob almost color matching haha:

DSC_9093 by James Webber, on Flickr

DSC_9096 by James Webber, on Flickr

DSC_9097 by James Webber, on Flickr

DSC_9100 by James Webber, on Flickr

DSC_9101 by James Webber, on Flickr

Cleaned the heater controls off a lot:

DSC_9106 by James Webber, on Flickr

Also finally installed a rear view mirror, night and day too

DSC_9103 by James Webber, on Flickr

sweetness

[webberjames95]

Where can I buy a quality carpet kit? Who makes one in like a teal or green color that'll match the truck nicely?

[70 shorty]

Very clean looking truck and it looks like you've been making some great progress on it.

[webberjames95]

https://flic.kr/p/SqGE23
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[68panelman]

Interior cleaned up nicely

[Nomadicflyer]

Wow. So awesome! Low drag, high speed! Beautiful truck, you have our attention.

[webberjames95]

Got a mexican blanket to cover the og seating material to protect it from tearing any further, minor tears but its original and I want to keep it nice. Its only original once:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Also, here are some pictures of it out and about, hanging with the modern trucks at homedepot my second home:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Here it is in the background while getting some granite counter tops cut and fit in a house:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Also I have all my brake lights, running lights, etc working finally. Mostly tracked every weird wire down and had to clean off a bunch of connections and grounds. Only waiting on a new license plate lamp to come in the mail, the original one had a bad seal and water corroded so badley that the housing and the bulb bottom were fused together... lol

Also I order orignal keys for the ignition as I only have one and I am bound to misplace it sooner or later, gotta get the og keys recut at locksmith also, I have several samples of carpet coming in the next few days, I know the rubber mats are og in this thing but I want carpet and I need to track down some pictures of the OER floor mats installed in someones car to see if the green ones look any good...

All for now, mileage is now at 68530 fwiw, already put 500+ miles on this thing without any problems

[webberjames95]

Gonna do a little welding on this thing tomorrow on some metal near the rocker panels. Cant put carpet over rust and feel good about it. I have ordered por15 so that should be coming soon. Also ordered a bunch of fatmat sound deadening to put under the carpet. Lets see, I also ordered new stainless door sills from lmc, hopefully they fit halfway decent Ive read they might need a little massaging. Should have some pictures tomorrow once I cut the metal out and put some clean stuff back in.

[webberjames95]

Gotta a little progress tonight, not as far i thought, need to buy an adapter for my welder plug, but that should be here soon.

Interior seat out for probably the first time ever:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Mats and deadening pulled, mostly dirty, i have already ground off the surface rust and paint matched most of the areas:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Rusty sills will be replaced:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

OG build sheet on the gas tank:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr
Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr
Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Old peace of moss under the seat, note the og floor paint:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Rustttt:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

thats how much rusted off the bottom:
Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Pulled it into the garage to finish off later. Pics to come. Bodywork also to follow

[webberjames95]

I know these werent body color out of the factory but I thought it would be cool and maybe people who know that its not body color will appreciate them maybe:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr
Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr
Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Also some floor clean up:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Ill post the seat brackets once I get them back in the truck. I think with fresh carpet itll look really nice and thought out instead of black.

[rustytruck50]

Looks great!!!!

[factorystock]

Build sheet says your truck originally came with 7.50-17 tires. Those were the beefiest you could buy on a '68 C 20. Included were the super heavy duty 3 piece rims. Not surprised truck no longer has them. 1968 was the last year for mega wheel options for the C20, 1969 saw only 2 wheel offerings. C 20 tire options in the middle blue column.

[northerngmc]

Very nice looking original truck.

Not sure if you figured out your wiring issue yet, but a good thing to check are the ground straps. Should be numerous ground straps, box to frame, cab to frame, engine to frame...... If they are missing or broken it can cause many intermittent problems.

I agree with above on not using 17" split rims. My 68 C20 has 16" factory steel rims to replace the old split rims.

[Ekliptix]

That thing is the coolest. Glad to see you both using and fixing a few of the things while making it look even better.

[webberjames95]

Carpet samples cannot get here soon enough I wanna throw the interior back together completely haha. also I have no sound deadening until my fatmat gets here, but that should be probably today later.

Here are my seat rails reinstalled, very subtle but I like the change:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr

Also I ordered a new license plate lamp cuz mine was toasted, but the one that came was nothing like the one I ordered, whatever, it was a very shiny chrome, I thought that wont match a single thing on this truck, so I scrubbed the housing down with some red scotch brite, hit it with some primer, and then some metallic silver header paint, it has a satin finish on it and I think it fits in nicely, the chrome wouldve looked ridiculous next to the crusty fender and tailgate:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr


Also here is my kick panel finished up, not super pretty but good enough to live with once I slap some carpet on it, definitely better than before:

Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr
Untitled by James Webber, on Flickr


Next will probably be soundedning then of course some carpet if and when samples ever arrive

Also I got my correct GM C code keys from Classic Industries, way better looking that the random old rusty one I have. Just need to get it cut